Be a pray-er #parashat tzav#parashathashavua

This Shabbat we continue to read about the sacrificial cult with parashat Tzav.  Because we read Megillat Esther this past Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I wondered if this scroll contains some insights about Jewish prayer since our prayers are in lieu of sacrifices.

Rabbi Raymond Zwerin wrote an essay in the book Jewish Men Prayer edited by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky and Stuart Matlins. He entitled it “Who can’t Pray.” He is a selection from it.

“Those who can’t accept responsibility for their deeds-can’t pray. Adam and Eve couldn’t pray. ‘She made me eat it,’ he said. ‘The serpent beguiled me and I did eat,’ she said.  Never once did they pray, even though while in Eden they had everything they could ever need.  Therefore, in order to pray, work on accepting responsibility for your deeds and misdeeds.

“Those who will not make an effort to help themselves-can’t pray.  A person who expects to be cared for totally and completely can’t pray. Prayer without personal effort is deemed to be evil.  Prayer can never serve as a substitute for doing our work. Nachshon first had to jump into the Red Sea…only then did the waters part.  Therefore, in order to become a pray-er, work on jumping into life with whatever energy and talent you can muster.” (page 26)

Queen Esther’s prayers were answered because she accepted her responsibility as a Jew and interceded upon our ancestors’ behalf.  When Mordechai instructed her to go to the King, he reminded her that “perhaps (she) attained to royal position for just such a crises.” (Esther 4:14) Esther didn’t just fast and pray along with all the other Jews, she prepared a strategy to save Israel from Haman’s evil scheme to kill all of us.  The banquets exposed Haman’s villainy to the king, saved the Jews, and doomed Haman and his followers to their just punishment.”

Be a pray-er just like Queen Esther.  Accept your responsibility for your deeds and or misdeeds and jump into life with whatever energy and talent you can muster before and after you pray.  Who knows you are just in the right place at the right time for such a prayerful need.